That was a running gag for years. However, in the alternate-reality Life With Archie series that ended recently, Jug proposed to Ethel, who had somehow lost the buck teeth (had them modified through surgery, methinks), and in the live-action movie, "Archie: To Riverdale & Back Again", Ethel had plastic surgery to become a knockout. Like, someone knew enough to put an end to the joke, didn't they?